Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/17

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PREFACE.
xi

ing in some of its sublimest most important truths. That every path tending to ends so desirable may be accessible, I have not confined myself to systematical subjects, wide and various as they are, but I have introduced the anatomy and physiology of plants to the botanical student, wishing to combine all these several objects; so far as least that those who do not cultivate them all, may be sensible of the value of each in itself, and that no disgraceful rivalship or contempt, the offspring of ignorance, may be felt by the pursuers of any to the prejudice of the rest.

I have treated of physiological and anatomical subjects in the first place, because a true knowledge of the structure and parts of plants seems necessary to the right understanding of botanical arrangement; and I trust the most superficial reader will here find enough for that pur-